"Know what you know" before you "write what you know"

“They say the most important thing is to write what you know. But there are two big problems with that... First of all, it's not enough to write what you know. You have to know interesting things. So you have to put yourself into a world where you have experiences. And then you also have to know what you know. And I think that that's even the hardest thing. Writing what you know is fine, but knowing what you know is the key to actually writing or creating any piece of art, because you have to know what it is that is driving you to do this completely narcissistic and a-social act of creating, forcing your thoughts and feelings upon a world that does not care. And you have to honestly figure out what it is you care about.”

(John Hodgman)

Before ”Ferris Bueller's Day Off”, ”The Silence of the Lambs” and ”Philadelphia”...

...Tak Fujimoto worked on ”Star Wars: A New Hope”:

how to “make it as a writer”...

Lynn Steger Strong's advice

"Manchester by the Sea" VFX breakdown sizzle reel

”...it’s a battle to take out, take out, take out...”

”...That should be another oneof the many things you should have on the wall in front of you: “Take out. Take out.” (Lawrence Kasdan, on dealing with a script that gets over 100 pages)

Ilka Tampke on writing

„Very few writers are motivated solely by the desire for recognition. It is lovely if it happens, but it cannot be the reason we sit down every day to stare at a screen and be immersed for hours in the soup of our thoughts. Most of us are motivated by the power of an idea, an image, a character, a world, a moral conundrum. This engages our imagination so deeply that we are willing to stay with it for the years it may take to find its most artful expression. (...) The completion of a novel brings an end to the creative relationship we have with our idea, but publication gives it a chance to be sustained in the imagination of readers. This is what fuels a fiction writer: the ongoing life of the ideas we love. The saddest thing about a book failing to reach an audience is not the wound to the ego, but the ending of the conversation. (...) Don’t underrate being underrated.”

Christopher McQuarrie says:

”Stop thinking about the business as something to “break into” and starting thinking of yourself as a business to be acquired. Your job is to create, improve and demonstrate your value.”